13 October 2017 – As part of the official opening ceremonies of DriverLab at the University Health Network, Consul General of the Netherlands Anne Le Guellec visited – and drove – this unique simulator.

During the past five years, the Netherlands-based company IDT has worked intensely with the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute to create DriverLab. This simulator will help improve road safety through better understanding of how age-related factors such as reduced vision, cognitive deficiencies and the use of medications affect driver safety. It will also be used to help design better feedback systems for future cars that help drivers with increasing limitations. Finally, it will help develop new licensing standards.

The visit by the Consul General Le Guellec and Policy Advisor Carlijn Lubbinge helped acknowledge the close collaboration between the organizations, and generated interest in future bi-lateral studies. “Safe roads are in everyone’s best interests, and we want to ensure that knowledge is shared between our nations”, according to Ms. Le Guellec. “The Netherlands welcomes collaboration with Canada, since both nations are strong in transportation safety research”.

“As the population ages, driving privileges must be in line with their actual abilities, and not subjectively defined limits”, says IDT president Dr. Sunjoo Advani. “DriverLab will open doors for multi-national collaboration to working together. Besides building the simulator together, Canada and the Netherlands share a common interest in road safety, operate highways with high traffic densities, and have growing elderly populations.